No Other Way
by desolate
Summary: Sakura's had it with being unnoticed - so she makes the first move. NaruSaku


Summary: Sakura's had it with being unnoticed. So she makes the first move. NaruSaku.  
  
WR: Felt like being nice to Sakura for a change. They're around 17 here. Naruto's Jounin - because I want him to be. Basically your usual fluff story. Except I don't write fluff.  
  
~*~  
  
So she was walking beside him-again-and he didn't even notice her new hair- do, or the irregularly bright pink shirt she was wearing. Hell, he didn't even notice that her eyes were a sapphire blue instead of an emerald green (she had experimented with contacts, much to the utter dismay of her parents). And what was up with his hand? Normally it would go for her waist, but now, no, now it was somewhere along the lines of touching a tree- screw it - he was getting more intimate with the tree than with her. And she wanted to thwart him for this crime, because even though they weren't officially together yet, he was supposed to -at least- love her. So Sakura did what any girl would do-she tried to flirt. Rather unsuccessfully one might add.  
  
"Naruto-kun," she blinked coyly, making sure her fingers were somewhere along the waistband of his pants.  
  
"Eh?" he asked-well, more like jerked away.  
  
What was up with him? Wasn't he supposed to like her? Or had he already gotten over her? It had been a while before he had done anything weird. Come to think of it, 2 years, 3 months and 15 days was the last time he tried anything funny. It distraught her, yes, but she always thought his fascination with her was a constant in life, rather than a fluctuating something.  
  
So step two was in action, and she tried shivering. Really, really shiver (in the heat), until she looked almost purple and blue all over. Then he'd give his jacket to her. And with the plus side of him actually doing something for her, she could get a look at his physique. Which was undeniably fine, by any means. Even finer than Sasuke's, which was something to say. Or maybe it was because she was biased. Sasuke had- changed-in a way she didn't want him to change. He was adulterated, and amorous, and it disgusted her to the core - nothing that 3 months of hiding with Orochimaru couldn't cover, but still, even that wasn't an explicable excuse for his actions.  
  
That coupled with the fact that he had managed to fall for Hinata of all people managed to obliterate her crush on him forever.  
  
And then there was Naruto.  
  
Always fine (in both ways), always cheery, arbitrary, and there for her, and she managed to fall for him. Except she was beginning to have her doubts if this time, her love was reciprocated. Wait. Love? No, no, she didn't love Naruto, she liked Naruto. There. Much, much better.  
  
"Sakura," he whined, tapping her on the shoulder. Wait. Where was the -chan? Where was the frigging -chan? Since when had he decided to drop the suffix? And where the hell was that coat he was supposed to give her?  
  
"What?" She gritted her teeth. Oh yes, inner Sakura had managed to pop her head out.  
  
"I'm bored."  
  
There it was. He. Was. Bored. And she felt like she wanted to topple over and die on the spot-all because he was bored, which meant he didn't enjoy spending time with her, which meant he didn't like her, which meant that once again she had chosen the wrong guy. Which also meant he was in for a good bashing afterwards. Nowadays that was her only means of telling him she still cared - because all the rest were either driven away, or replaced by furrowed eyebrows and excuses to go away. She missed Naruto. She missed the way he would cling to her, and the way he would try to hug her, touch her, talk to her. She missed it all. And she didn't even know she missed him until she was the one who started to cling onto him.  
  
"Sakura? What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing," she spat out. Oh. Whoops. She didn't mean to spit that out. She meant to be all nice, and fluffy, and don't forget loving. Yeah. She meant to be all that.  
  
"That sure as hell doesn't sound like nothing," he replied.  
  
"You think?" she huffed.  
  
"Well what is wrong?" he asked. She could tell his patience was wearing thin. And he never used to get tetchy with anybody, at least not with her. Why, why, why was it that she noticed him now and not then? It all would've been so much easier.  
  
"I said nothing was wrong," this time she added some emphasis on a couple of points. Hah. There. Then he'd understand it was him that was causing her to become all catastrophical and derogatory.  
  
"Well if there's nothing wrong let's go," he began to grow irritable. Hey. Whey. He was supposed to comfort her, not start an argument with her. What did she do wrong this time? Her plans had backfired-totally backfired. Screw it, she was enacting Plan E.  
  
"I'm sorry," she bit her lip, looking up at him sheepishly.  
  
"Eh?" Score! He was interested now. And was that a look of guilt on his face? Score! He still cared!  
  
"I'm sorry," she said again, looking down this time. That's it girl, like you're going to cry.  
  
"What the hell are you sorry about?" He asked, rubbing his chin. "The weather? Because if you're sorry about the weather then I don't really care. It's stupid, and it's sunny, and I feel like my throat's going to dry up. But if you're sorry about anything else-."  
  
"What is it with you?" she cut him off, yelling at him-not with all her might, ironically enough. "I don't understand you at all!"  
  
"What is it with me?" he snorted, "I don't understand what's wrong with you! Suddenly you're all nice and Sakura isn't nice to me. She's nice to Sasuke and Lee and Kaksashi and all the other boys and girls out there with the exception of Ino, but not me. So before you go around accusing me off having some sort of mental disorder, take a look at yourself."  
  
And she found it was about here where she wanted to break down and cry-while toppling over that huge cliff 3 miles away. But she maintained her composure, and stared him down like the good warrior she was. And she didn't care that there were a few tears glazing over her eyes, because she could say that it was the sun that made them water, or that she was allergic to the stinging pollen flying around like a sack of hay. Yeah. She could say all of that, and he'd never know that all she wanted to do was hug him and smother him with attention.  
  
"Look, I'm not in a really good mood -."  
  
"Obviously," her voice crackled.  
  
"...So I don't think this excursion idea was a very good one to begin with," she still maintained her icy composure, "besides, don't you have Sasuke to chase after? I heard he was going on some date with Hinata."  
  
She gritted her teeth again. And she decided that she had had it with being unnoticed.  
  
"You think all I want to do is chase after Sasuke all day long? You think I'm that stupid?" She motioned, pointing her finger at him, "Well then, fine," she poked him in the chest. Hard. "I don't care about you anymore. I'll do exactly as you say. I'll chase after Sasuke," she bit at his name, "and break him and Hinata up so that I of all people can get together with the king of morons for a one-night-stand and show off to the world about it!"  
  
And she was quite content to say that he was silenced by her -small- outburst.  
  
But wait. What was he doing? Was he laughing? Oh dear God, he was laughing. The boy was laughing at her. And he was shaking his head and pushing her away from him. And his eyes. Yeah, his eyes looked directly into hers. And it wasn't the romantic sort of look, but the full-of-revenge kind of look that made her want to cower under that tree next to him and never see the light of day again.  
  
"I knew you were still obsessed with him," he concluded, "don't you think it's about due time that you give up on him? I mean, you owe it to Hinata and all right? She hasn't done anything to you. And you owe it to him because if you really do love him, you'd want him to be happy."  
  
"Oh God," she cried out, "oh God, oh God, oh God. That's all you think, isn't it? That's all, and you don't even understand one bit!" she moaned, furrowing her brows together as she tried not to cry.  
  
"Not understand what? That you still love Sasuke?" he asked, "of course I understand. I mean, I was hung up on you for a while when we were kids, and then on Hinata for a while longer--."  
  
"Wait," she put up her hand, "you liked Hinata?"  
  
"Yeah. What's so wrong with that?"  
  
"Was that why you stopped bothering me all of a sudden?"  
  
"Yeah. And I suppose that was a double-edged sword because I could finally get over you, you wouldn't have your moments with Sasuke interrupted by me, and I'd figure out that Hinata really did like me once too," he commented loosely.  
  
"So, so," she stuttered, "do you still li-love her?"  
  
"Love her? No, after what happened with you and your constant rejection, I guess I haven't been too blind as to say I love someone without even knowing them," he tilted his head, "but like her? As in more than a friend or comrade?" she nodded fervently.  
  
Moments passed by.  
  
And he suddenly spoke again.  
  
"That's a secret!" he whispered into her ear.  
  
It was here where she decided she would head lock Naruto to get him to churn out the answer. But he was stronger than her now, and he could easily get out of her lock-and he was so damn tall-even for a seventeen year old that she couldn't help but fall on the ground because his legs managed to trip her over. So he picked her up again, and flung her over his back so that her arms wove around his neck, and his arms were holding her legs. And she didn't head-lock him this time, because she knew it was probably another one of those days where she could pretend he actually did still love her, and another one of those days when she could bury her head inside his hair and smell whatever deodarant he was wearing because damn, he smelled good. Even after he had trained for 3 hours non-stop, and rushed over to their meeting place, and was all sweaty from the heat. Yeah. He still smelled so damn good.  
  
"So Sakura," he asked, walking towards the town, "you still going to chase Sasuke around?"  
  
"No," she crinkled her nose.  
  
"So I really did teach you something today! Besides, him and Hinata somehow make sense. With you, he'd be so on-the-go."  
  
"What do you mean, on-the-go?" she pouted, holding him tighter. She found his blush irresistible.  
  
"Well, even while the whole team was still together, you were so random at times. And what you did sometimes shocked us all. And I think that he needs someone constant."  
  
"Oh," she mouthed silently.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So how's training?" she piped up. And she forgot to note the fact that training was not something she should ask him about. It was strange with Jounins nowadays-how secretive they were about the things that kept them strong.  
  
"Alright, I guess. I just decided to take a run around the village today instead of doing the normal things I do."  
  
But he answered her, and she guessed she was happy about that. Maybe because it showed he trusted her with 'classified' information. But maybe because it gave her a different sort of hope. And this time she buried her face inside his shoulder, and started to close her eyes as she enjoyed his presence.  
  
She had never done that before-just be with him, and notice that his hair did have an odd tinge of brown in them, and that his over-coat was made of parachute material, rather than some scratchy cloth. And she'd never notice that his breathing was irregular, and that when he walked, he tended to lean more on his left leg than his right. And she liked the way he would suddenly stop in the middle of his track to say hi to a couple of people, and how he would always, always, without doubt, suddenly look at her to check that she was still there. Yeah. She'd never noticed all these things, and she found herself falling even harder for him.  
  
And she didn't mind it. Didn't mind it at all-because it was OK to fall for such a great guy, it was OK to love someone so whole and complete. It was OK.  
  
"Sakura," he called her, "I'm tired."  
  
"Hn?" she asked.  
  
"I'm going to drop you, alright, because I'm tired."  
  
"Hey!" She protested as he released her.  
  
"Sorry about that. Just want to sit down for a while.  
  
"Fine," she huffed, sitting down next to him. She didn't mind that the ground was dirty and brown. And she leaned her head onto his shoulder as his hand finally found its way onto her head.  
  
"You know," he began, stroking her hair gently, "I was kind of scared the other day.  
  
"About what?" she muffled, burying her face into his neck again.  
  
"Training. I was climbing up the mountain and I couldn't feel my chakra."  
  
"Your chakra?" she acted surprised, but she was too endorsed in him.  
  
"Turns out I used it all up by summoning Gama Oyabun the night before. I was getting bored so I decided to have a little chat with him."  
  
"A chat?" she asked dryly.  
  
"Fine, I needed help because I fell off the cliff again."  
  
"Jiraiya?" she commented.  
  
"No, trying to peek at Kakshi's book."  
  
"You perv," she swatted him on the arm, resting her head against his chest this time. He drew her in closer, something which didn't happen very often - as she could predict.  
  
"Naruto," she asked, "what would you say if I didn't like Sasuke anymore?"  
  
"Hn? Why would you say that?"  
  
She thought for a while before answering him.  
  
"Because it's the truth."  
  
"Oh," he mouthed in surprise, never minding the fact that he currently was holding her in a very unruly position. And that their legs were tangled up in various abstract ways.  
  
"Never saw that coming, huh?"  
  
"Nope, not at all madam."  
  
And they were greeted by another version of silence as their breaths became more shallow by the minute. He stopped playing around with her hair and stood up, stretching as he yanked her to her feet. Softly, this time, and she didn't even have to ask him to be a gentleman.  
  
"You know," she admonished as she regained her balance, "you're probably going to freak out about this, but I don't really mind."  
  
"Huh? What is it, what is it?" he asked excitedly, "is there no more ramen? Because if there's no more ramen then--."  
  
"No, there is still ramen."  
  
"Then what is it?" he pouted, zipping and unzipping his coat.  
  
"This," she leaned up as she kissed him square on the lips.  
  
"Hey--." he trailed off, leaning into her. And this time his hands did go on her waist, and he drew her in close, just like she wanted him to. So she supposed that there was hope left for the two of them, and that the problem with Hinata might just have been resolved.  
  
So she did what any girl what do.  
  
Sakura closed her eyes and shut the world out.  
  
~*~  
  
WR: Oh dear. I killed the plot. And they wouldn't shut up. 


End file.
